


Yarnbombing Stark Tower

by flightinflame



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Knitting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-14
Updated: 2013-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-03 07:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1067654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is startled to find that his workshop has been decorated with knitted goods.  Presents continue to turn up, but even Clint isn't sure who started this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yarnbombing Stark Tower

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Warm knitted winter clothing keeps turning up all over the tower, in colors that match each person’s preferences. The identity of the mystery knitter surprises everyone.

It started with Tony going into the workshop one morning, and storming out a moment later, trying very hard not to laugh. The rest of the team looked up from where they were clustered around the kitchen table, talking to each other and finishing off their own breakfasts. They watched as Tony leant against the doorframe, shaking his head and sighing softly.

He didn't seem to want share what it was that had amused him so much, so Steve cleared his throat.  
"What is it?"  
"Here boys..." Tony called over his shoulder. "Look at them. They are even more ridiculous than usual."  
"What?" Clint asked around a mouthful of cereal. He nearly spat out the sugary flakes a moment later, as You, Dummy and Butterfingers wheeled into the room.

Each of them had a knitted hat perched on top of their highest point - the joint of their hand/arm like device. You and Butterfingers both had red hats, with yellow patches in the shape of the iron man mask across it. Dummy meanwhile had a hat consisting of blue and silver wool in the pattern of the arc reactor.

Clint snorted slightly, then started to choke, causing Coulson to lean over and pat him on the back.  
"They're... fetching..." Steve answered carefully, trying out the words and fighting back his own smile. Tony shook his head.  
"They're certainly something alright. Which of you did it?"

Everyone stayed quiet, with their heads down.  
"Jarvis?" Tony asked. "Who did it?"  
"I'm not going to tell you that sir. It is no one that poses a threat, and I look forwards to seeing you figuring it out."  
"What did I do to get cursed with an AI with a sense of ...this isn't even sarcasm Jarvis. This is you being sadistic. I made a sadistic AI. You'll go all skynet on us and no one will believe us."  
"If he goes skynet on us, it's your fault Stark." Clint pointed out, flicking a piece of cereal at him.  
"Whatever." Tony shrugged. "Come on, one of you made these hats, and I'm looking at you Barton...." He frowned, then shook his head. "Or maybe Bruce. Or Natasha just trying to confuse me..." He glanced at them all, then snorted. "You're all weird." He turned around and headed back to the workshop, but didn't make any effort to take the hats away from the bots.

Clint grinned at Phil.  
"That... who did that?" The archer asked. There was still no answer, and he shook his head, a little bit amused. 

It had been a long time since Clint had knitted. He had knitted when he was a child, and he missed it now. When he had been back in the orphanage, he had made a few gifts like that because wool was cheap and sometimes just available for the children to use. One of the adults there, an elderly woman who was more patient than the rest, had shown him, and he'd made a clumsy scarf which he'd carried with him until he had reached the circus. He hadn't been the one to make the hats for the robots, but it had inspired him.

The three robots continued to wheel around in their hats for the next couple of days, and everyone smiled when they saw them. It was kind of adorable after all. They just seemed so happy about the entire thing. 

Nothing much had happened over the next week, and for once no monsters attacked, which meant that Clint was able to spend a lot of time bothering Phil in his office. That was his normal hobby, but this time he brought along several balls of wool, and he'd sit there, knitting cautiously. He was anxious about knitting in front of him, worried that Phil would judge him for it. 

Instead, Phil smiled and pushed his paperwork aside.  
"I haven't done this for a while." Phil muttered. "I used to make things when I was younger, for my sisters..."  
Clint handed over some of the wool, and a spare set of knitting needles, before returning to work on his own project.

Far too early the next morning, there was a shout of delight from the gym. Steve raced around the tower, bouncing happily. He knocked on Phil's office door once he'd shown Tony, and stuck his head inside.  
Phil was there, sat at his desk, with Clint dozing on the sofa. When Steve's head appeared around the door frame, he smiled and beckoned him in.

"This is fantastic..." Steve said as he walked in, showing off the gifts he had found. "These were just on top of the punching bag today..." He explained, gesturing to the blue and white cable jumper, and a scarf patterned with the stars and stripes. "They're my size, hand made... whoever did it, it must have taken them hours...." He spun in front of them, and Clint clapped happily.  
"It's beautiful." Phil answered. "I'm glad that it suits you."

Steve left to find Bruce, and Phil shook his head despairingly, looking at Clint.  
"A stars and stripes scarf?"  
"Not all of us can make beautiful jumpers like you can..."  
"Yes, but still... I'm beginning to think you made the hats for the bots."  
"It wasn't me." Clint insisted, looking up at him and shaking his head. "Maybe it was Steve..."

That evening, Steve was trying to help Thor knit. They were sprawled out on the couch together, two large strong pairs of hands trying to manipulate the thin needles. One nearly cracked, but Steve carried on in determination. Thor's wool had ended up knotted, so Bruce helped correct him, and soon he'd managed to produce an odd misshapen block that was similar to the first scarf that Clint had made all those years ago.

No more knitted presents appeared over the next couple of days, and then on the third day Natasha returned from an assessment to find two knitted gifts in her own locker. She headed back to the tower with both gifts. A black scarf, embroidered with red hourglasses was wrapped around her neck. She caught Clint, and put the hat onto his head. It was dark grey, and fuzzy, with four long lines out on either side. Embroidered at the front were two large black eye circles.  
"It suits you better than me?" He tried to argue. Natasha shook her head.

"It suits you just fine, I mean it." Natasha answered, and he pulled the hat off, throwing it at her. Clint nearly fell over at the movement and Natasha chuckled, shoving the hat into her pocket. She had no intention of wearing it, but it hadn't ended up in the bin yet, and that was enough to make Clint smile.

The next day, Clint carried out a purple knitted arrow. He draped it over his seat.  
"Look what I got!" He called out to the others over breakfast.  
Phil frowned a little and nodded, before pulling something out from behind one of the couch cushions. It was a large grey jumper, with a purple target embroidered upon it.  
"It's beautiful." Clint frowned at him as he pulled it on. It fitted him perfectly, which was a surprise. He hadn't expected to get a nice present, he'd just been expecting a joke one. The jumper fitted perfectly, and it was warm around him. He realised that Phil must have made it for him.

Natasha glanced over at him, and nodded her approval. He smiled in return.

The rest of the team looked at him, and Tony frowned a little.  
"Still not going to tell me J?"  
"Never sir." Jarvis answered, and Tony rolled his eyes.  
"I'd been fairly sure I knew what was going on, but you managed to look genuinely surprised at that one bird brain."  
"Maybe they're magic?" Clint suggested with a smirk. Natasha stifled a snort, and the conversation carried on. 

The next day, Bruce found a Hulk plushie and a purple and green staff nestling amongst his lab equipment. He put on the scarf, and shoved the plushie into his pocket as he worked. When he headed out to take a break, he found that the entire tower had been decorated by Tony and Clint. There was a gigantic Christmas tree standing in the middle of the hall. It was wrapped around with brightly coloured tinsel, a rainbow of lights and a mishmash of ornaments. It was close to hideous, and entirely tacky, but seeing how much Clint was smiling as he scrambled up to place the star on top made Bruce smile as well.

There was nothing said for a while, he just watched Clint scrambling around, but then there were footsteps behind him, accompanied by the sound of eating that suggested Tony had turned up.  
"Is that a new scarf Bruce?"  
"Yeh." He turned and noticed that Tony was wearing a handmade woollen vest with a knitted reactor in the front.  
"I got a present too... well, two presents..." He held out a pair of red and gold socks. "These were placed in my workshop. I think I know our culprit, don't I Bird brain, only one person is going to be willing to crawl through the vents to place them, and that must be you..."

"I was never any good at socks." Clint protested. Coulson looked up from his paperwork, and Tony turned on him.  
"It's you Agent, isn't it. The two of you did this together didn't you? Is this your idea of a cute little relationship thing, knitting presents and trying to confuse the hell out of me?"  
"Maybe Stark. But it took you long enough."  
“You did the hats, didn’t you? This was all you agent.”  
“I did the hats. But it wasn’t just me making the presents.”  
Phil smiled as he saw Clint’s surprise at the fact he had made the hats. It was good to still be able to surprise him sometimes.

"Jarvis, assemble the team..." Tony demanded. Soon all of them arrived. Tony stood there triumphantly in front of the tree.  
"We've got two big bits of news. First of all, this utterly beautiful tree is finished thanks to Clint and me, because we are wonderful. Then, more importantly, I know who's responsible for the knitted gifts. Agent and his pet bird have been trying to drive us all insane with it."  
"You exaggerate Stark." Phil answered. Clint laughed slightly, and Steve smiled up at the tree.

"It looks beautiful guys. I'll draw it later, it looks fantastic...and thank you so much for the gifts, both of you."  
Thor was frowning a little, looking down at the ground, and Clint reached out and squeezed his hand.  
"We didn't forget you big guy." He told him. "I'll go and get you stuff..." He ran off, and fetched a mjolnir plushie, and a grey scarf that was textured like Thor's armour. Thor beamed, pulling the clothing on.

"Is that good?"  
"It is a marvellous gift Son of Coul and Agent Barton. I am truly grateful to receive such a spectacular item..." He declared, then playfully bopped Clint on the head with the plush hammer.

"Is that all of it?" Bruce asked, staring around at the mixture of knitted goods.  
"Not quite." Phil answered, fetching a Bruce plushie and an oversized Santa hat from a cupboard. "These are for Hulk, we didn't want to have him feeling left out."  
"Thank you..." Bruce answered, his eyes shining a little. 

"Now, that's all of it." Phil answered.  
"Not quite." Clint answered, rushing off. He returned a few moments later, with a bag. He handed it over to Phil.  
"Alright." He said gently. "Now that's everything..."  
Phil opened up the parcel, and pulled out a pair of black gloves with the SHIELD logo on the back. It was neat for Clint's work, and Phil pulled them on with a smile.  
"You did gloves? You hate gloves. Say the fingers are too fiddly."  
"I did gloves." He answered, leaning in and kissing him softly. "I wanted to make a good present for you."  
"It's wonderful." Phil reassured him, kissing him in return. 

"You guys do realise that Christmas isn't until tomorrow?" Tony called out. Clint looked between them and nodded.  
"Well, if it's not until tomorrow, I guess we can go to bed for now?" He suggested, slipping his fingers into Phil's gloved ones. Coulson smiled, and headed off with him to their room.


End file.
